1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicles, and more specifically to a vehicle including a cargo bed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is proposed a variety of off-road vehicles (e.g., Recreational Off-Highway Vehicles (ROVs)).
For example, WO2010/044174A1 discloses a vehicle, which includes a pair of front wheels, a pair of rear wheels, and a body supported by the pair of front wheels and the pair of rear wheels. At a rear portion of the body, there is provided an engine room as a sealed structure, in which an engine is installed. Above the engine room, a bed is provided. The bed is supported by the body pivotably in an up-down direction about an axis at a rear portion of the bed.
In such a vehicle as the above which is provided with a bed that is pivotable in an up-down direction, the bed is usually raised when performing maintenance operations to the engine and output adjusters (such as a throttle body) which are disposed around the engine. After the maintenance operations are over, the bed is lowered again to the original position but it happens sometimes that a tool or other object is left between the bed and the engine room and is pressed toward the engine room by the bed as the bed is lowered. Generally, output adjusters are damaged more easily than the engine by external forces and therefore, it is desirable to prevent tools or other objects from making contact with the output adjuster even in such an incident that a tool or other object was pressed toward the engine room as described above. The vehicle disclosed in WO2010/044174A1 has an engine room having a sealed structure, and therefore tools and other objects are prevented from making contact with the output adjuster even if they are pressed toward the engine room. Thus, it is possible to prevent damage to the output adjuster.
However, in the vehicle according to WO2010/044174A1, the engine room has a sealed structure as already described. Therefore, the engine room must be opened when performing engine maintenance operations. In this case, the vehicle requires a task of opening the engine room, and this decreases work efficiency.